A man from Sonoma County, convicted on Nov. 14 for
indecent exposure, committed suicide in a redwood grove 150 yards off
the Bolinas-Fairfax road. Martin Christians choked himself to death
with a dog leash attached to a branch. He did not hang from a tree,
but instead sat at its base and leaned forward, a suicide note and empty
bottles of liquor nearby.
The fact that Christians was in a sitting position,
and not hanging, suggests that he killed himself by leaning forward
against the rope. At any time, it appears he could have leaned back
and saved his own life.
Found by a mushroom hunter
Christians, 58, might still sit undiscovered if not for
Dennis DeBoi, Bolinas resident, who braves the woods throughout Bolinas
in pursuit of mushrooms three times a week. Upon parking his car and
walking into the woods, DeBoi said he noticed a man to his left, who
he thought was sitting against a tree reading.
Folks in those woods are not common, said DeBoi, and
he approached to investigate.
"Excuse me, sorry to disturb you," said
DeBoi. To gain the man’s attention, DeBoi touched his shoulder.
At that, the man slumped over to his left.
A unexpected shock
"When I touched his shoulder, I was like ahh.
It was pretty obvious he was dead. He was so stiff, because, at that
point, rigor mortis had set in.
"I backed up and didn’t investigate any
further," said DeBoi. "It looked very ritualistic.
"I thought maybe somebody was drunk and asleep
in the woods. It was just surreal. There’s no real trail there.
I’ve run across couples having sex, but nothing like this.
"If you come across a car wreck, you expect something.
But this was out in the middle of the woods."
DeBoi immediately drove to Smiley’s Saloon, where
he phoned 911. Even though he doesn’t drink, a friend bought him
a "needed" shot.
Back at the scene, DeBoi praised the police for being
sensitive to how upset he was. "Everybody was like, ‘they’re
gonna keep you there forever and want to know all about you.’ But
they didn’t do that. They were really great," he said.
In the morning, DeBoi woke up to get a root canal.
Normally, his dentist gives him discounts when he brings her chanterelle
mushrooms, but this time he didn’t have any to give.
"I won’t be going back there to hunt mushrooms,
that’s for sure," he said, although he has already begun hunting
for them in other places.
"Severely Depressed"
A suicide note was found at the scene, said Point
Reyes National Seashore chief ranger Colin Smith, but, "There was
nothing in the note to indicate that he killed himself because he was
a sex offender." Christians, who pleaded no contest to indecent
exposure, was sentenced to 30 days in jail with three years probation.
The note is now in the possession of the Marin Coroner and will go to
Christians’ next of kin.
"Mostly, a person who [commits suicide] is someone
who is severely depressed," said chief ranger Smith. "When
they get to the point where they want to commit suicide, they do things
that seem unreasonable."
Smith said that the investigation would likely take
a week and consist of talking to Christians’ friends and finding
out where he is from and how he got to Bolinas.